


Not a Mouse

by luciferinmyhead



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Borrower Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dehumanization, Human Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, being treated like a pet, borrower au, dee gets put in a mouse cage, i guess?, like one of those shitty wire ones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luciferinmyhead/pseuds/luciferinmyhead
Summary: Janus finds himself trapped, and the human who caught him doesn't seem to mind the fact that he's sentient.
Kudos: 40





	Not a Mouse

**Author's Note:**

> *waves awkwardly* Hi...I'm still alive lol  
> I know its been forever since I've written anything, but I'm trying to get back into it. The plan is to just write some easy, low effort one-shots for a while to get myself back into the flow of writing before I try and return to my chaptered fics. I wrote this in one sitting and did NOT edit it, so hopefully its coherent :'D   
> Enjoy!

Janus felt his chest heaving up and down as he panicked, clawing at the walls he’d been trapped in desperately, trying to find some way to escape. The young borrower could barely breathe, could barely think past the panic clouding his mind, entirely incoherent except for the need to run,  _ run, RUN! _

The wooden box he’d been trapped in was about four inches tall, and three wide. It had been baited with a small piece of cheese, and Janus had fallen for it.

The cheese laid forgotten on the floor, where it had been dropped the moment Janus had stepped on an unseen pressure plate and snapped the trap shut. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been trapped here for. Minutes? Hours? All he knew was that he was exhausted, his fingertips torn and bleeding from where he’d clawed at the walls, the floor, in a futile attempt to escape. Remus and Virgil must be worried sick about him by now! 

He was so caught up in his panic that at first, he didn’t notice when the floor began to shake.

Loud, rhythmic beats shook the ground, and it didn’t take Janus long to determine they were footsteps. Human footsteps. 

His panic returned full force, and once again he began desperately tearing at the walls, terrified tears burning in his eyes as he heard the human exclaim. Janus froze, hand pressed tightly against his mouth, as he prayed to whatever deity may be listening to spare him.

Suddenly, the world tilted, and Janus let out a startled scream as he pitched to the side, slamming into the wall as the trap jostled. Within a moment, it went still again, and Janus fell back to the floor. He could already feel the bruises forming. 

The door to the trap opened. 

Janus scrambled to the back, terrified, as a hand bigger than his entire body reached in, and wrapped around him. He screamed, sinking his teeth into a giant finger as he was pulled out. The human’s loud cursing echoed painfully in his ears as the hand holding him jerked, knocking Janus’ head against the roof of the trap. Janus yelped, and went limp for a moment, dazed, and the human took the opportunity to adjust their grip on him so he couldn’t bite.

“...Well. You’re certainly not a mouse, are you?”

Every fibre of Janus’ body recoiled, and he stared up at the human in terror. Green eyes stared back at him, belonging to a face startlingly similar to Remus’, and Janus began to tremble in his grip. 

“Let- let me go!” He demanded, cursing how his voice stuttered and trembled, giving away how terrified he was. His words, however, had the opposite effect, and the human’s face lit up as his grip tightened slightly, forcing the breath from Janus’ lungs. 

“Sweet Julie Andrews! You can talk!” He exclaimed with delight, grinning widely. “This is amazing! I thought I was catching a mouse, but this is so much  _ cooler! _ ” The world blurred around him as the human began moving, and Janus felt sick as he was jostled up and down, his stomach churning despite the fact that it had been empty for days now. 

“Where is it, oh I know I left it somewhe- Aha!” The human seemed to find what he was looking for, and Janus felt his heart sink as a large rat cage was brought into his view.

“Here you are!” The human said loudly. “Your new home!”

Janus struggled uselessly in the human’s hand as he was set into the cage, his fate settled with a clang as the door clicked shut. “No!” He cried, wrapping his hands around the bars and pulling at them, trying to bend them. “Let me go!”

The human chuckled. “Nonsense! I know this is going to be an adjustment, but you’ll learn to love it! I’ll take care of you, and you’ll never have to scavenge for mere crumbs again!” He crouched down, so that he was at eye level with Janus. “My name is Roman!” He declared. “Do you have a name?” 

Janus stepped back, hiding behind one of the plastic balls in the cage. He wasn’t going to be some human’s pet! Maybe if he ignored Roman, he’d get bored and let him go…

“Oh, come on now, don’t be like that!” Roman complained. “You’re only in there so you don’t run away! I’ll start letting you out when I can trust you, okay?” Janus continued to ignore him, and he huffed in frustration, sending a gust of hot air over him. Janus let out an indignant noise, his nose scrunching at the man’s breath as he pushed his hair back into place. 

“Ugh! Fine, be like that!” Roman groaned, getting to his feet and picking up the cage, causing Janus to stumble and fall onto the uncomfortable floor. “You’ll get bored and talk to me eventually!” He reasoned, carrying Janus and the cage back the way they’d come, and setting it down on the kitchen bench. 

“Now, you look thinner than a twig! What sort of food do you like?”

Janus crossed his legs and wiggled around, turning his back to his human captor as he crossed his arms over his chest. His stomach growled traitorously, though. It’d been days since he’d eaten…

“I can hear your little stomach growling. You’re hungry! Just tell me what you like so I can make it for you!” 

His stomach complained again, even louder this time, and Janus let out a frustrated noise. “I don’t care!” He barked. “It doesn’t matter!”

He heard - and felt - Roman sigh behind him. He muttered something about being stubborn, to which Janus scoffed, but didn’t respond to. A moment later, he felt the rumble through the floor as the human stepped away, and listened as he pottered around the kitchen, clearly making some sort of food. 

When Janus was satisfied that the human’s attention was no longer on him, he got to his feet, and started looking around the cage, searching for a way out.

The cage was made of painted white wire, with a red floor base. It had three levels - the ground level, and then two other, smaller levels, which were accessible by climbing ladders - also wire. On the top level was a small house-shaped hideaway, with a small archway opening to get in and out. With the size of the entrance, it didn’t offer as much privacy as Janus would have liked, but it was significantly better than being out in the open. Especially after several minutes of wandering, climbing and testing had yielded no weak spots in the cage through which he could escape. 

With a frustrated huff, Janus climbed the ladder to the second level, then climbed the next ladder to the third. He had to duck a bit to get through the archway, but once he was through that, he was able to stand comfortably inside the faux house. He peeked out the doorway, glaring at Roman as he pottered around the kitchen, singing loudly as he went. If Janus wasn’t so pissed (and terrified) right now, he’d have to admit that the human did have a nice voice, if far too loud. 

He sighed, sitting down on the floor of the house, which was thankfully solid and not just more wire. If he glanced out the doorway he could see the large mouse wheel attached to the wall of the bottom level, and he scowled at it. If Roman thought he was going to get to watch Janus run in that thing, then he was in for a rude awakening. 

If Roman thought Janus was going to just sit back and be an obedient little pet, well…

Roman had better think again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for the kind of abrupt ending. I started losing steam for this at about the 1000 word mark but I knew if I stopped I'd never come back to it so I just kinda rushed the ending. I did leave it open though in case by some miracle I ever DO come back to it lol


End file.
